To:THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Letter to the O.C.

Written:Written between March 6 and 9, 1903Published:First published in 1928.

      Sent from Paris to Kharkov.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1974,

      Moscow,Volume 34,

      pages148-149.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:D. MorosPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Wehave just received the rules of the Congress. It appears that we did not
understand you and replied about theordre du jourwhen you were asking
about therulesof the Congress. We hasten to say that on the whole we
are very satisfied with your draft, which is carefully and sensibly drawn
up. Clause 19, which has evoked dispute, seems reasonable to us; to exclude
certain organisations from the Congress (and, in the final analysis, the rules
are precisely regulations for the exclusion of some and the granting of rights
to others) is in fact inconvenient and impossible without the agreement of the
majority of the committees. Our only advice would be to fix a formally binding
period as short as possible (for example, not more than a week) in the course of
which the committees and organisations areobligedto draw up and send
in their amendments to the draft rules. This is essential in order to avoid
delay, which is most of all to be feared. (It is probably through fear of delay
that Ignat, too, protested. We understand his fears, but if you are able to
complete the interrogation quickly, the matter can be put right.)

Forour part, we shall write to theIskraorganisations about our
advice that your draft should be accepted im mediately and completely. We
earnestly request you to make use of every facility to ensure that the dispatch
and communication of the draft (on the basis of § 19), the “session” of
the arbitration courts, and determination of the composition of the deputies
will be completed within a month at the latest.

Inthis connection we advise you informally to recommend all qualified
organisations to appointas far as possibleone (or two) delegates from
among comrades living abroad who are known for their past work—in order to
avoid extra expenses and difficulties involved in sending delegates abroad.

Weformally propose 1) to supplement your draft only by a note to § 19:
“Organisations which have not presented their comments within a week from
the date of receipt of the draft will be regarded as having accepted the draft
rules of the Congress”; 2) to make provision for alternate delegates in
the event of delegates being arrested before the Congress.